


Of Family, and the Ties That Bind

by arihime



Series: Of Family [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 21:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6211372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arihime/pseuds/arihime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the time comes, they will stand on opposite sides of the battlefield, both calling out to their sister to come home.</p><p>Xander and Ryoma on meeting their middle sister, and everything that happens afterwards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Family, and the Ties That Bind

**Author's Note:**

> My first official fic for Fates! And yes it's another custom MU because I am apparently incapable of writing gen. I have major siblings feels you guys. You have no idea.
> 
> Big thanks to Sarai for beta'ing this and being a very big help!

Xander meets the girl that will become his sister when he is thirteen. Camilla is nine, and they are both summoned to the throne room by a message from Father. She nods to him when they meet at the door, and gives him a knowing look. Xander has no doubt that she has come to the same conclusion he has about this meeting. Whatever the issue is, it involves King Garon’s children. 

Xander wonders if it’s about Azura.

Before Camilla can say anything, the doors open, and they walk into the throne room with heads held high, both of them keeping in line with the other. An obvious show of solidarity, and a sign to anyone that might be watching that the Nohrian royals will not be divided, no matter the history of feuding in their family.

Father is sitting on his throne when they enter. Xander catches sight of Sir Gunter standing up on the dais before he sweeps into a perfect bow, just like his etiquette tutors have taught him. Beside him, Camilla drops into an equally perfect curtsy. They stay like this for a few moments, frozen under Father’s gaze until he rumbles, “Xander, Camilla, rise.”

They do so, and it is then that Xander sees the reason that they were called into the room. There is a girl—not Azura—standing close to Gunter, almost trying to hide behind him. She is a small, pale thing, different from any of the other children he’s seen Father with. The most striking thing about her should be her ears, which stick out in points from under her long black hair, but it isn't. The most striking thing is her age. She can’t be more than five or six, older than Leo, but younger than him and Camilla. Xander wonders what kind of a person her mother was, to hide her daughter instead of trying to use her as a pawn like all the rest of Father’s concubines. 

(He also wonders what happened to her mother, to have her be brought to court now.)

“Come here girl.” Father commands. 

She doesn’t move, and instead looks from Father to Gunter wildly. The knight gives her an encouraging smile and a little push, and she toddles over on hesitant legs. When she is close enough, Father clamps a hand on her shoulder and draws her against him. She flinches. 

Xander knows what Father is going to say before the words even leave his mouth. There is only one reason, after all, for him to be introducing a child to them.

“This is Naomi.” Father says. “Your sister.”

He says it without preamble, or explanation, but then Father has always been direct. Besides, Xander doesn’t need an explanation. He knows where children come from, knows too his father’s reputation. Camilla knows it as well, judging by the way she doesn’t bat an eye at Father’s proclamation. It is interesting though, that Naomi has appeared so soon after Azura’s kidnapping. Almost as if she was a replacement. . .

“She will be living with you in the castle from now on. I trust the two of you will teach her what it is to be a Princess of Nohr.”

“Yes, Father,” Xander and Camilla intone.

Up on the dais, Naomi’s eyes go wide at this news, and Xander wonders just how much she knows about the situation.

“I’ll leave the three of you to get acquainted.”

Father pushes Naomi away from him, and she stumbles a bit before recovering. He doesn’t notice, too busy descending the dais. Xander and Camilla drop down again as he passes. He doesn’t acknowledge them when he leaves, but then Xander didn’t expect him to. Affection from Father has been scarce since Mother died, since the war between his concubines escalated. After Queen Arete’s death and Azura’s kidnapping, he’s been practically frigid. 

The moment the doors close behind them, Camilla lifts her head. Eagerness and joy are written across her features, and she picks her up skirts and practically skips towards the dais. Xander follows at a more sedate pace.

“So, you’re our new sister?” Camilla asks, and Naomi nods hesitantly.

Camilla breaks into a grin and coos, “Oh, aren’t you adorable!” She reaches for Naomi, who jumps and runs behind Gunter. 

The knight laughs. “You needn’t be afraid, child. These are your siblings.”

Naomi looks at Gunter uncertainly, then shoots wary glances at Xander and Camilla. Xander understands her hesitance. The history of King Garon's children has obviously reached and affected this child. But no more. 

“You’re safe now, Naomi.” Xander says, taking a slow step forward. Naomi’s eyes shoot to him. “My name is Xander, and I’m your older brother.” He gets down on his knees and holds out his hand to her. “I promise, you’re safe now.”

He has lived through enough of the in-fighting himself. He won’t let any of it (anymore of it) affect Naomi. Or Leo, for that matter. Or any other siblings that should randomly pop up. 

Up close, he realizes that Naomi’s eyes are red. She tilts her head slightly and blinks at him. Xander smiles at her, and after a moment she smiles back. Her hand is small in his when she takes it, her grip tentative, but she lets him pull her away from Gunter. 

Camilla comes up behind him, her movements slow so as not to startle Naomi. “I guess she likes you better, Xander.” She says, voice pitched so only he can hear.

He turns to see a court smile plastered on Camilla’s face, sees even clearer the displeasure lurking underneath.

“I think you simply startled her.” He says.

Camilla hums. She goes to Naomi and kneels down, just as Xander had done. “I’m Camilla, your big sister.” 

Naomi is quicker to smile at her now, and she takes Camilla’s hand when it is offered without hesitation. Camilla beams, and the smile only grows wider when Naomi says quietly in her little voice, “You’re pretty.”

There is an odd lilt to her voice, an accent that Xander hasn’t heard before. He doesn’t have time to dwell on it, though, because Camilla squeals happily at Naomi’s words.

“Thank you! You’re very pretty too.”

Naomi blushes and ducks her head.

Xander turns his attention to Gunter, who has been standing quietly by. “Does she have quarters set up?”

“Yes, Your Highness. In the north wing.”

“Good. We’ll escort you to them, Naomi. And on the way we can go introduce you to your little brother, Leo.”

“I have a little brother?” Naomi asks in wonder. 

“Yes. And the three of us and Father are your family.”

“Family.” Naomi tries. She looks between Xander and Camilla, and even turns her head back to look at Gunter. 

The old knight smiles at her.

“Family.” Naomi says again, nodding decisively. Her grip on Xander’s hand tightens.

They descend the dais like that, the three of them hand in hand. Gunter goes before them to open the door, and they continue through the palace and to the north wing. The courtiers they cross stare and whisper, but Xander and Camilla ignore them with a practiced ease, and after a moment Naomi does as well. Let them see the prince and princesses of Nohr united. They are a family, after all, and Xander will not allow anything to tear them apart.

*

Naomi is not the only new addition to the family. Five months after she arrives another little girl is born to a serving maid that Father favored. Her mother names her Elise, and she is surprisingly alert when they come to see her a few days after her birth, looking up at all of them with wide bright eyes. Xander holds Naomi’s hand, and Camilla Leo’s, and together they marvel at their new little sister, so innocent of the world around her.

Father doesn’t come. 

“She’s family, right Xander?” Naomi asks, craning her head up to look at little Elise in awe. 

Xander scoops her up so she can get a better view, and Naomi’s arms settle around his neck. “That’s right, little princess. Elise is our new baby sister.”

“Looks like you aren’t the youngest anymore, Leo.” Camilla teases.

Leo looks aghast for a few moments, then puffs his little chest out when he catches them watching. 

“I’m not the baby. I’m older.” He announces.

“Oh, but you’ll always be my baby brother.” Camilla says, and pinches his cheek for good measure. Leo squirms.

In that moment, it is almost easy for Xander to forget the world around him. Everyone he loves is right there in that room, and everyone is happy. It’s a nice, peaceful moment, although it doesn’t last for long.

Elise’s mother is murdered a few months after her birth, in one of the last acts of in-fighting among Father’s concubines. Xander makes sure of that. The loss binds Elise closer to them. None of the Nohrian royals have a mother left, and sometimes they hardly even have a father. But they have each other, and it is enough. Even when their bond is tested by threats from outside. 

Hoshidans infiltrate the castle when Xander is seventeen. No one quite knows how they get in, and if they hadn’t kidnapped Naomi, Xander doubts anyone would have realized when they left, either. Naomi screams when they take her, alerting every guard in the castle to their presence. Even then, it isn’t enough to stop them. They escape the castle grounds, and even the surrounding city, and Xander is out with a search party before Father even says a word. 

He makes them pay dearly for threatening his little sister, but for all his effort, Xander can’t keep Naomi from getting hurt, and grievously so. After the incident, Father has her moved to the North Fortress for her protection, and she spends her first few months there recovering in bed, her retainers and siblings hovering around her. Xander visits from time to time, but he can’t stand to see her so still. He is angry, at the Hoshidans for hurting her, and at himself for not being faster. When Father offers him command of a campaign against Hoshido, he takes it immediately. He needs an outlet for his anger, and as much as he love his siblings, he won’t get it by staying in the fortress.

It’s while he’s on campaign that Xander learns exactly _why_ the Hoshidans tried to kidnap his sister. 

He leads his troops in capturing a Hoshidan border fort, one that had belonged to Nohr several years ago. After the battle has been won and the prisoners accounted for, Xander takes a tour of the fort, hoping to find something valuable to bring back to Father.

What he finds instead is a portrait of a woman hanging in the commander’s office. It is done in Hoshidan style, and at first he doesn’t pay much attention to it. But her face catches his eye, and when he finally gets a good look at her, he can’t help but stare. It’s almost as if he’s seeing his sister, but it can’t be. Naomi is much younger than this woman, and her eyes are different. And yet. . . 

There is a plaque underneath, but the writing is in an old Hoshidan script that Xander can’t hope to understand. He pulls the portrait down and takes it to where the Hoshidan commander is being kept.

“This woman must be important for you to have a picture of her in your office.” Xander says. “Who is she? And don’t tell me she’s your wife.” 

The commander refuses to speak at first. Xander persuades him with a sword to the throat.

“Our queen,” he spits out. “She’s our queen.” 

Xander nearly drops his sword. He jerks back and stares at the portrait again.

Same black hair, same beauty mark on her chin. The women in the portrait looks just like Naomi. Or to be more accurate, Naomi looks like her. There is no doubt in Xander’s mind. Naomi’s mother is the Queen of Hoshido, and he highly doubts that King Garon is actually her father.

That doesn't make her any less his sister. Naomi has grown up with him, spent her life with him and his other siblings as a Princess of Nohr. As far as Xander is concerned, she is as much his sister as Elise and Camilla are, blood relations be damned.

It does, however, bring up the question of how she came to be in Nohr in the first place, though Xander figures out the answer to that one as soon as he thinks of it. They must have taken her. If he had to guess, it happened the same day that King Sumeragi died. Nohr took her, and then the Hoshidans tried to take her back. 

They can’t have her; not then, not ever. Xander will kill anyone who tries to take Naomi away from him, just as he killed the Hoshidans who hurt her.

He stalks out of the room and throws the picture at the first soldier he finds.

“Burn it.” Xander commands, turning his back on it, and the truth. “Preferably in front of the Hoshidans.”

*

Xander tries to forget about the picture, and Naomi’s true parentage. For the most part, it is easy enough. Every time Naomi’s eyes light up when she sees him, when she calls him Big Brother in her cheerful voice, all of his worries melt away.

That isn’t to say that he forgets completely. The issue comes back up when Camilla figures out the truth, but she is quick to dismiss their lack of blood relation as trivial. He isn’t surprised; Naomi has always been Camilla’s favorite. If Xander is honest with himself, she is his favorite as well. Naomi is sweet and kind and innocent in a way that does not fit with the Nohrian court. Sometimes, Xander is almost happy that she has been shut away from the rest of the world, if only because it let her keep her innocence. The grimness of the court is almost too much for him, the crown prince, to bear. He knows it would crush Naomi the second she ventures out.

Xander is hesitant, then, when Father finally calls Naomi to the castle with them, and he is worried beyond reason when he has her fight Hoshidans. He should have expected it. Of the many enemies that Nohr has made over the years, Hoshido is the most prominent. And Father is the one arranging this test of skill, and he knows the truth. It is a test of loyalty as well, whether Naomi knows it or not, and Xander can do nothing but watch. One of the Hoshidans recognizes her— Xander can see the surprise in the man’s face when Naomi gives her name— but he thankfully stays silent to the truth. 

Naomi, thank the gods, is able to best her opponents easily, and for a moment Xander thinks everything is over.

Then Father orders her to kill them.

Naomi refuses, of course she does, because she is kind, but she is a fool. Father never takes kindly to those who defy him, and this time is no different. He kills two of the prisoners without batting an eye, but when he goes to do the same with the second set, Naomi intercepts him.

Xander fears for her. He knows (he thinks) that Father would never seriously harm his own children, but Naomi is not his child.

Xander jumps to her defense before anything else can happen. He doesn’t want to kill the prisoners, not when Naomi herself has risked so much to keep them alive. But if it means satisfying Father and saving her, then he will make that trade happily. The two Hoshidans’ live for his sister’s.

He doesn’t expect Naomi to fight him. He should have known better.

In the end, Leo is the one who comes up with a solution that appeases everyone. When it is over, Xander goes to Naomi and says, “Mark my words, Naomi. One day an act of kindness may be the death of you.” Fear and worry make his words sharp.

He expects her to contradict him, but instead Naomi smiles, heedless of his tone. “Perhaps, but if I’m kind, I will die without regrets.”

He can’t deny her that fact, but her words unnerve him nonetheless. Naomi shouldn’t be talking about death at all.

*

In order for Naomi to be forgiven, Father sends her on a mission to the border. What’s worse, he sends Hans along with her.

The whole thing screams “trap” to Xander, and he isn’t the only one of his siblings who is worried. Iago’s warning be damned; this test is obviously one that Naomi is meant to fail, and his sister is too naive to understand that. Even Elise, younger and more childish, still understands their unease and urgency to some degree. They give Naomi a day’s head start, then ready their mounts and head out after her.

They arrive just in time to save Naomi from the Hoshidan reinforcements, though more are on the way. Xander orders a retreat without hesitation. There is nothing else for them to do that at the fort, and he wants to get Naomi as far away from Hoshido as possible, lest someone recognizes her for who she truly is.

His haste costs him far more than he ever thought possible. When they cross the bridge, there is a new hole in the wood that Xander knows wasn’t there before. And when they reach the other side, Naomi is nowhere to be found.

Elise is the first one to make the connection. She cries out in dismay and runs back to the bridge. Camilla grabs her before she can go far, pulling their little sister against her breast and shushing her as best she can. When she looks up though, Xander can see the same suspicion in Camilla’s eyes.

Leo goes to inspect the hole. “It looks like the planks broke under the weight of something.”

Elise cries louder.

“Maybe I should go look. . .” Camilla says, motioning to her wyvern.

“There’s no point.” Xander says. The canyon is bottomless. If Naomi did fall, they wouldn’t find her body no matter how hard they tried. “Naomi’s probably just gone ahead. If we don’t see her on the road, we’ll meet up with her at Castle Krakenburg.”

His siblings nod uncertainly and go back to their mounts. Xander casts one more look at the canyon before riding off, spurring his horse faster than before.

They don’t find Naomi at the castle, but a confused Jakob. His face falls when he sees them return without Naomi.

“She hasn’t come back?” Xander demands.

Jakob shakes his head. “I thought milady was with you, milord.” Hoped, more like it.

Elise bursts into tears again.

Xander goes to see Father. There are so many questions he wants to ask: Why he took a Hoshidan princess and raised her as his own. Why he sent Naomi out into what was obviously a trap. Why he seems so unconcerned about the girl who, even if she isn’t of his blood, spent more than ten years under his care. Instead, he asks to be sent out to look for Naomi.

“I forbid it.” Father says, his voice rumbling.

“But Father—”

“You are the crown prince of Nohr. You have better things to be doing than looking for your wayward sister, especially now.”

“Then at least—”

“And none of your siblings are allowed to go either.” Father says before Xander can even propose the idea.

“Father!”

“Xander, are you defying me?”

Xander drops his gaze. “No, Father,” he says. _I simply want my sister back._

“Don’t worry. Soon you’ll have something to take your mind off this whole issue. For now, you are dismissed.”

They spend a month in this uncertainty, wondering if Naomi is dead but having no proof. Xander refuses to believe that she is dead, even though it’s the most logical answer. It’s certainly what Leo thinks, though he would never say such a thing out loud. Xander is almost relieved when Father calls him into the throne room again. He needs something to do, anything to take his mind off Naomi’s fate, but he never anticipates what Father’s assignment will be.

“Xander, the time to invade Hoshido has come. Gather your siblings and prepare to head out to war.”

“The barrier around Hoshido has fallen?”

Father grins. It is a frightening thing to behold. “Yes, just as expected.”

Xander doesn’t have time to ask Father what he means by that, and honestly he doesn’t care. It is so easy for him to focus his anger and grief on this new goal. Invading Hoshido won’t bring Naomi back, but it will make Xander feel better, and he knows that Camilla and Leo feel the same.

And then, against all odds, invading Hoshido _does_ bring Naomi back. In a way.

He is fighting the Hoshidan prince when he sees a flash of black hair and a pointed ear out of the corner of his eye. Against his better judgment, he rears his horse back, hope rising unbidden within him.

Naomi stands on the wrong side of the battlefield, flanked on either side by what he can only presume are the Hoshidan royals. Her true family. (Some petty part of Xander’s brain notes that, for all that the Hoshido royals are supposed to be her blood siblings, Naomi doesn’t look like them any more than she resembles Xander and his siblings.) Her eyes widen when she sees him, sees their family standing behind him. 

She smiles sadly at him, and in that moment Xander realizes that she knows the truth. 

That doesn’t stop him from turning his horse towards her. Doesn’t stop the voices in his head that are screaming at him to save his little sister from the enemy. They have no right to Naomi; they have known her for all of a month. Blood be damned, Xander and his siblings have raised her and worried about her and loved her more than the Hoshidans could ever know.

Xander breaks away from the Hoshidan prince and rushes towards Naomi, and his siblings do the same. Everyone moves, until Naomi stands in the no man’s land between the two armies, the royals from Nohr and Hoshido on either side of her. Voices fill the air, and Naomi looks wildly between the two groups.

She looks as lost as she did on the day Xander first met her.

Just like that day, Xander holds out his hand. He can’t smile, but he pleads.

“Come home, little princess.”


End file.
